Uttar Pradesh housing board releases Rs 31 crore for Ghaziabad Metro

GHAZIABAD: The Uttar Pradesh Housing & Development Board has released Rs 30.90 crore for the under-construction Metro corridor in Ghaziabad. The move came nearly three weeks after the board was pulled up by the state government for delaying funds for the project. In a meeting in Lucknow on September 14, chief secretary Rajiv Kumar, had directed the housing board and UP State Industrial Development Corporation (UPSIDC) to release their share of funds to the project within 10 days.

The money will be used for the Dilshad Garden-New Bus Stand Metro project by Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC). The fund was transferred by the housing board to the GDA, the nodal agency for the project, which in turn was given to DMRC on Wednesday.

The housing board is among the four stakeholder agencies for the project in UP. It has a share of Rs 440.45 crore in the total budget of Rs 2,210 crore for the project. The board had earlier released Rs 50 crore from its share of funds.

“The money is expected to boost construction work, which is already in an advanced stage. No new deadline has been fixed for the completion of the project,” secretary, GDA, Ravindra Godbole, told TOI.

The GDA has already released its entire share of Rs 695.80 crore for the project. The UPSIDC has released Rs 3.30 crore from its share of Rs 97 crore in the project. The GMC is yet to release any funds from its share of Rs 246.35 crore.

The September 14 meeting in Lucknow was convened at the behest of GDA, which had raised the issue of inordinate delay in construction work due to delay in release of funds by different government agencies. In September, the state cabinet also approved a revised funding pattern for the project in a new budget estimate. As per the new estimate, the total cost of the project has been pegged at Rs 2,210 crore as opposed to the Rs 1,770 crore estimated in 2012.